China celebrates 70th anniversary of its navy with huge parade as it challenges US supremacy at sea

The parade included 32 Chinese vessels and 39 aircraft, but the fog made them difficult to spot.

ABC News: Steve Wang

It was not the display of naval might that China's President Xi Jinping would have envisioned.

Key points:

China held a parade to mark 70 years since the founding of the country's navy

President Xi Jinping is overseeing a major overhaul of China's navy which could make it the world's largest

Experts believe the Chinese navy could have 100 more warships than the US by 2030

At one point, the pride of China's fleet — its 304-metre air craft carrier the Liaoning — was almost impossible to see from close range, as thick fog shrouded the country's biggest-ever naval gathering.

Formations of air force jets could be heard but not seen as low clouds literally rained on the parade.

But while the unpredictable weather off the coast of the port city of Qingdao ruined the spectacle, the continuous lines of increasingly advanced submarines and warships conveyed a clear message: China has arrived as a naval power.

The country's President and military chief Xi Jinping tried to assure the world his intentions are peaceful, despite mounting concerns about China's assertive approach to territorial disputes.

"The Chinese military is committed to creating a security environment featuring equality, mutual trust, fairness and justice, joint participation and shared benefits," the President said before observing the fleet from one of China's most modern destroyers.

As the ships moved past him in the grey drizzle, he would have made out a Royal Australian Navy flag — a sight seldom seen in this part of the world — flying above Australia's contribution to China's military showpiece.

HMAS Melbourne is taking part in this week's events to mark 70 years since the Communist Party's Red Army founded its naval arm.

Another 12 countries sent ships on goodwill missions for the parade including wartime enemy Japan, rising rival India and even Vietnam — the only country to have experienced a naval battle with the PLA Navy.

China now launching more ships than US

A Chinese military spokesman said the international participants show this isn't a Chinese muscle-flexing display.

But a check of China's rapidly growing fleet tells another story.

"China's naval build-up and modernisation is unprecedented in both its ambition and speed, said Adam Ni, a Chinese military researcher with Macquarie University.

"By some estimates, China already has the biggest navy in the world by quantity."

Since President Xi Jinping came to power in late 2012, China has overtaken the US in both the number and total tonnage of vessels launched each year.

Chinese media reported last year that the speed of military development surpassed that of all other countries, claiming the number of 'modern' naval surface ships had gone from just eight in 1999 to 127 in two decades.

An analysis from the International Institute of Strategic Studies puts China's total fleet, including smaller craft and older ships, at 300 vessels.

The US navy is still ahead with a fleet of 490 vessels, but only 287 were ready to be deployed for battled in 2018.